Oct. 10, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



649 



<\ich a low moral level I should rather expect him after awhile 

 to transfer his nationality to the more prosperous nation, and 

 next to offset things by carrying stealings in the opposite 

 direction. Page 563. 



TR.\.DK BULLETIN (QUOTATIONS. 



I should suspect that the trade bulletin of a big city 

 would be less reliable on honey prices than the leading honey- 

 dealer of that city — liable to print the figures of somebody's 

 guess, or figures adjusted from one sale at abnormal prices. 

 Page 5H3. 



>l.j!CJtt^.^t>^CJ!CJtLJitJit^!t>j!Lj!LJit.^tt>^>J«.j!Cj!t^t^ 



y^t: 



The Home Circle. ^ 



Conducted bu Prof. ft. J. Cook, Claremont, Calif. 



MOTHER. 



This is surely the most precious word in the home circle. 

 I am reminded of a sweet, wholesome, delightful story that I 

 lately read in a magazine. An acquaintance of a motor-man 

 was riding with his friend on a trolley car as the latter guided 

 and directed it through the streets of our great metropolis. 

 He noticed that the car ran very smoothly, unusually so. In 

 starting and stopping and in making the numerous turns he 

 was not thrown or pushed or handled at all roughly as is the 

 wont so frequently in our rides on the electric cars. He asked 

 his friend, the motor-man, why this consideration was meted 

 out to the fortunate rider on this special car. His friend 

 explained as follows : 



After he had run the car for a time his mother came to 

 keep his home for him. He longed to show her his power and 

 hoped she might take long rides with him on his car every 

 day. He proudly took her with him the first day after her 

 arrival, and to give her a rare treat he gave free rein to the 

 current that was silently and invisibly hurling them over 

 street and along roadside. Her mother-love and consider- 

 ation for her dear boy led her to conceal a mortal fear, and 

 serious pains and aches, as she was pushed, knocked and 

 jammed hither and thither as they flew around bends or 

 stopped and started in a break-neck fashion. 



On the morrow she as studiously concealed her aches and 

 pains, and serious lameness. He was saddened, and greatly 

 disappointed, that his precious mother wished no more to go 

 with him, as this would turn his work into pleasure, and rare 

 pleasure if it would bring joy to his beloved parent. Finally 

 he learned through a third party, of the shock and inconveni- 

 ence which his mother had received on the occasion of that 

 first ride. He was dumb with sorrow, chagrin, and contrition. 

 He successfully urged a second ride, and now his care more 

 than equaled his previous rashness. Caution made the start 

 and stop so gentle that those riding felt no jar ; the turns 

 were so skillfully made that no push was felt. The fond 

 mother felt no fear, and suffered no harm or inconvenience. 

 She now takes daily rides to the joy of both her own and her 

 sou's heart. The son added : " In all of my trips now, I 

 wonder if some other's mother is not in my keeping, and so 

 the crank and levers are ever pulled to check the jar and 

 lessen the shock as the turns are made or the speed varied." 



Oh I how few mothers really know or realize the wondrous 

 influence they exert to make the world brighter and better. 



THE CALIFORNIA REU-HEADED WOODPECKER. 



This is one of the several beautiful California birds that 

 belongs to the order Pici. These birds are quickly known, as 

 two toes oppose two others on each foot, which enables them 

 to hold fast to fence-post or tree-trunk. Their beak or bill is 

 a well fashioned chisel, by which they gouge out the hole that 

 leads to grub, or fashions their nest. Their long tongues are 

 barbed that fishhook-like they may catch and pull out the cov- 

 eted grub or caterpillar. Mr. and Mrs. Red-head are alike 

 capped with red, and, like many other birds, as instanced in 

 blackbirds and robins, arc ijuite exclusive in their attentions 

 the one to the other. 



Mr. Woodpecker's name is not Koberts. He would not be 

 excluded from his seat in Congress, if elected thereto. Mr. 

 and Mrs. Red-head have a pretty and most interesting habit, 

 working together most delightfully and industriously. They 

 bore numerous holes in quite regular form and position into 

 the great mountain pines. They then hie away to seek the 

 rich, nutritious acorns which they crowd one into each hole, 

 so compactly that one needs his knife to loosen them. Often 



a very large acorn is such a misfit that the hole must be 

 greatly enlarged, and then one of the pair holds the nut while 

 the other makes a sort of a bee, calling on other birds to aid. 

 As soon as the hole is sufficiently large, all return to their own 

 work except the two that then adjust the acorn snugly, and 

 proceed with other nuts. Later, as food is scarce, these nuts 

 are eaten, and form many a hearty meal for this faithful 

 and deserving man and wife bird. 



THE OJAI. 



Queer word is that. We pronounce it 0-hz. It means 

 '•eagle's nest." It is the name of one of the most lovely 

 spots in California, a veritable basin or nest, whose rim is the 

 lovely wooded mountains which encircle it on all sides. It is 

 in Ventura County, hardly more than a half score of miles to 

 the north of " Ventura by the Sea." In its nest-like form it 

 is like San .facinto Escondido, where I am now writing, and 

 El Cajon. The Ojai, however, is peculiar in fondly bearing 

 numerous great, spreading, beautiful live-oaks. Their nest- 

 like valleys, which nestle at the very feet of a great ring of 

 mountains, more beautiful when wooded, with trees and 

 shrubs, are exceedingly lovely. They hold the fortunate 

 people who call them home, with a fascination that makes 

 them ever afterward impatient of any other home. I never 

 feel more close to the verge of envy than when I visit these 

 gems of mountain scenery. I often find my lips whispering : 

 "Oh : always to look upon this grandeur." 



BOOTS THAT SHINE. 



It is my privilege as conductor of farmer's institutes in 

 Southern California, to be much with the professors of that 

 institution, of which every Californian is so justly proud. In 

 California, where we have little or no rain from April to 

 October, the dust gets very assertive. To keep one's boots 

 resplendent with an immaculate shine is no mean accomplish- 

 ment. One of my colleagues, who happens to be ray compan- 

 ion for these two weeks, has that exceptional faculty. He 



tells me that Mrs. often holds him up to the children— 



their two boys — as an example that they should the better 

 copy. He tells her that in his youth the shine was not so con- 

 stantly in evidence, but she replies that his mother says not 

 so. We know that the child is father to the man, and I ween 

 the dear, fond old mother is quite right. As we wear our 

 boots in childhood, so we are apt to continue till the locks 

 whiten. How blessed the mother who can always say : " Do 

 as thou seest thy father do," in her efl'orts at discipline. 



I Questions and Answers. ^ 



CONDUCTBD BY 



£>R. C O. MILLER, Marengo, 111, 



(The Qnestlous may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail.— Editor. 1 



Questions on Nectar-Yielding Plants. 



I want to keep a few colonies of bees, and want to pro- 

 vide a pasture for them. What is the most durable and 

 quickest seeds to sow ? 



How long does it take buckwheat to come into bloom 

 after coming up (with seasonable weather)? How long- 

 does it stay in bloom ? Is it fit to cut and feed to stock ? 



Alfalfa down here doesn't yield any honey. 



What is the difference between white sweet clover and 

 white clover ? 



I had about an acre of crimson clover in the spring- 

 which the bees worked on as long as it lasted. I had the 

 seed mixed with alfalfa, but it was no good. Is there any- 

 thing you can suggest ? Tennessee. 



Answers. — Answering your questions somewhat out 

 of their exact order, I can not say how long it is from com- 

 ing up till bloom of buckwheat, never having taken exact 

 observations, but should say at a guess from memory, three 

 or four weeks might not be out of the way. But that guess 

 may be considerably out of the way. As to length of 

 blooming season, my guess would be also three or four 

 weeks. Very likely both of these guesses might be length- 

 ened. The blooming season is very often closed by the 



